Three Speech’s event over at PlayStation’s 3Rooms was over a week ago now, but we’re still been receiving lots of questions asking about the night. So here’s a definitive round up from one of Three Speech’s regular contributors, Steve Boxer. And we’ll be back with news of further Three Speech events in the New year…
Three Speech took over Sony’s 3Rooms PS3 demonstration space in London’s trendy Shoreditch on 12 December, and attendees – many of whom had travelled considerable distances – were rewarded with perhaps the most comprehensive demo yet of the PS3’s myriad abilities.
Whether or not the PlayStation 3’s multimedia skills – which are way ahead of other consoles – will actually convince punters to buy the console remains to be seen, but the PS3 can certainly do some impressive stuff which we never suspected it would be capable of.
SCEUK PR guy Jonathan Fargher took the controls, working his way through the Cross-Media Bar, roughly from right to left. One slightly surprising development was instantly obvious – the PS3 was hooked up to an iPod via a USB cable, and Fargher was able to show how tracks could be easily played on or ripped to the PS3.
Next up was the photo library functionality, which included a neat mini-program that arranged photos into a scrapbook-style photo album – visual effects included making digital photos look like printed ones, and the software extracted date and time info automatically from the photos. A more conventional slideshow format had a neat twist – its software worked out the focus of each photo and zoomed slowly in on it.
The PS3’s web browser – with its ability to open multiple pages and let you flip instantly between them – looked impressive. We were briefly shown how to log onto the PlayStation Network using one username covering all games (below this piece, you will find a weblink that lets you register a PSN account) and add friends to your list. It was confirmed that individual games which generate a large amount of downloadable content will have their own dedicated areas of the PS3 Online Store. Later, Phil Harrison confirmed that Gran Turismo HD will be available as a free download, with its downloadable content also on offer without charge.
But perhaps the most impressive part of the demo was the interaction between the PSP and the PS3. Hook up a PSP via a USB cable or WiFi, and you will be able to use it to access all the content on your PS3. And thereby download any music tracks, photos, videos and so on to the PSP. Sony confirmed that, at some point in the future, it will be possible to access the PS3 from your PSP remotely (that is, beyond WiFi range), so if, say, you’re overseas, you’ll still be able to download all the multimedia content on your home PS3 to your PSP. There’s no doubt that the PS3 is the most multimedia-savvy console yet – but will that convince people to buy it?
By Steve Boxer
I think saying that the multimedia skills of the PS3 are “way ahead of other consoles” is a bit over the top. I can stream content from my PC (video, photos, music) wirelessly to my 360 no problem at all. In fact you can even play music from your PC on your 360 not just in the dash but in any 360 game you’re playing.
But yeah the PS3 does look like it has pretty good multimedia capabilities. What shot it in the foot recently was Kutaragi’s recent comments to Engadget saying they’ll be releasing an AV-centric version of the PS3 (much like the PSX release) in time. I found that a pretty strange thing to say, considering how much they’re trying to convince everyone that the PS3 is the ultimate multimedia hub.
On another note, I took that photo!
Comment by Soong — Dec 22, 2006 @ 5:41 pm
Haha thats me! And thanks for taking those pictures for me Soong.
Comment by Tom Eccles — Dec 22, 2006 @ 10:41 pm
The multimedia aspect of the PS3 is “way ahead of other consoles” and the first example you give is hooking it up to an iPod.
The only edge the PS3 has, currently, is the ability to browse the web and you have to ask if that is something people really want.
To the question of wether multimedia features sells consoles in my view the answer is a resounding “no”. There are only 2 main factors in sales of hardware and they are games followed by price point of the hardware.
The PS3 has the highest price point and a serious lack of AAA games. That’s the real challenge, if you want multimedia buy a Mac.
Sony need to knuckle down and deliver games in 2007, forget about the hardware, focus on the games.
Comment by shinesevens — Dec 24, 2006 @ 7:42 am
@ Nº3:
Yeah, you’re right on the fact that Sony should focus more on software, but I can assure you that when I choose a console, I look at the multimedia functions aswell. And there are may people like me out there.
Comment by Macrike — Dec 31, 2006 @ 1:17 am
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